Private companies need to be more prepared to counter hacking attacks: PwC report

Although CEOs in the private sector have more confidence in addressing threats from the internet, they are however ill-prepared to do so, states a report from PwC.

A report prepared by Pricewaterhouse Coopers states that although the CEOs of some of the world’s leading private companies are confident of their company’s future growth prospects, they are however ill-prepared for cyber attacks.

As per the “Undaunted, but underprepared?” report, 86% of CEOs in the private sector were confident about of their companies revenue prospects in 2017.

This marks an increase of nearly 5% from 2016. Also this is the first time in 5 years that CEOs of private companies were more confident than their counterparts from public companies.

PwC’s report also notes that 41% of CEOs from the private sector weren’t concerned about threats from cyberspace while only 68% were concerned about the speed of technological change.

As per Stephanie Hyde, the Global Entrepreneurial and Private Business Leader for PwC UK, stated it was worrying that CEOs in the private sector were less concerned about technology and threats from cyberspace when compared to their public counterparts, especially since the private sector has less resources in invest to address these issues.

“This may make them more vulnerable to cyber attacks, so in theory they should be more concerned about these threats not less,” said Hyde.

She went on to add, “In our view, this is probably the single most worrying finding in our report, especially in light of growing evidence that hackers are now targeting smaller and private businesses, thinking they will not be so well protected.”